Poor seedling vigor deters the use of Russian wildrye [Psathyrostachys juncea (Fisch.) Nevski] in seeded pastures that are intended to supplement native rangeland in temperate, semiarid environments. Induced tetraploids of Russian wildrye have greater seedling vigor than plants with a normal diploid chromosome complement and provide a unique opportunity to improve establishment capability. This study compared two measures of seedling vigor, total emergence and rate of emergence, among 25 tetraploid parents and their respective half-sib progenies sown at 5 and 7.5-cm depths in a greenhouse environment. Total emergence, adjusted to reflect 100% seed germination, at the 5-cm depth ranged from 79 to 100% among the 25 parents and from 81 to 98% among progenies. At the 7.5-cm depth, parents ranged from 34 to 56% emergence, and progenies from 18 to 55%. Narrow-sense heritability estimates from regression of progeny on parents were 56 S.E.15% for emergence from 5 cm and 102 S.E.26% for emergence from a 7.5-cm depth. Heritability of emergence rate index was 54 S.E.14% at the 5-cm depth and 26 S.E.22% at the 7.5-cm depth. Total seedling emergence from a 7.5-cm depth would be an effective selection criterion for seedling vigor in tetraploid Russian wildrye.